Hear Christopher Paul Stelling’s Fiery Folk-Gospel LP ‘False Cities’

NYC-via-Daytona singer-shouter is a finger-picking fury

When we first met Christopher Paul Stelling in April, we heard the impassioned New York folkie “tear this shit down” brick by brick. Now we get to hear what the man’s built atop the rubble of so much fierce bluegrass and boot-stompin’ Americana. The entirety of the Daytona-bred musician’s second album, False Cities, is streaming below and it finds Stelling owning his particular pulpit with the strength of a dozen Southern Baptist preachers. The finger-picking force sings his own quavering brand of hellfire (“The Waiting Swamp”) and hope (“You Can Make It”) across these 10 songs, which whip the listener back and forth like a steam-powered hayride. CPS’s delivery is so electric, in fact, that it’s easy to forget that False Cities is an acoustic affair — just guitar, fiddle, voice and the occasional rattle of chain. Pick up the album in mutliple formats via Bandcamp after you feel this fiery gospel: